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| Saturday 03 September 2005 East Court 5 Uckfield Town III 1 A ROSS Kelly hat-trick helped newly promoted East Court get their Mid Sussex Football League Division 4 campaign off to a winning start at Imberhorne School on Saturday. Inevitably, it took the home side a while to settle but midway through the half grabbed the lead when the ball broke to Billy Denyer in midfield and he flicked it to Kelly who burst into the area and fired past the Uckfield keeper. Ben Sunderland missed a couple of half chances to extend the advantage and then East Court were grateful to their shot-stopper Dan Lamprell, making his debut, for keeping them ahead when he saved a penalty after a foul by captain Simon Nickols. Uckfield equalised at the start of the second half after East Court failed to close a player down and he unleashed a swerving shot into the roof of the net. But the home team regained the lead when Kelly broke the offside trap and showed great composure to round the Uckfield keeper and from an acute angle slotted home past a defender on the line. With the away side tiring, East Court took full advantage and Denyer got on the score-sheet after Paul Brice found the midfielder in the box, who neatly turned his man before striking his shot into the left-hand corner. Nick-Clarkson Tooze replaced Sunderland and set up the fourth when he sprayed a 40 yard pass into the path of Kelly who lobbed the keeper and showed great determination to out jump a defender and head home for his hat-trick. Clarkson-Tooze was unlucky not to score himself shortly after when his attempted lob came back off the crossbar. Chris Butler came on for Brice and East Court rounded off the afternoon when Denyer played in Lee Champion who shrugged off a defender before firing past the Uckfield keeper. Team: D.Lamprell, P.Brice (C.Butler), C.Buckler, A.Shillibeer, D.Medcalf, N.Palmer, S.Nickols, B.Denyer, R.Kelly (P.Bishop), B.Sunderland (N.Clarkson-Tooze), L.Champion |